Schoolhouse Rock!

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Schoolhouse Rock! (1973-1986) is a series of 46 educational shorts featuring rock songs about schoolroom topics, including grammar, science, economics, history and politics. Originally conceived by David McCall in 1972, the shorts were broadcast on ABC television affiliates until 1986. They were then broadcast on occasion throughout the 1990s and part of the 2000s.

Grammar Rock[edit]

Unpack Your Adjectives[edit]

  • [[Got home from camping last spring.
    Saw people, places and things.
    We barely had arrived,
    Friends asked us to describe
    The people, places and every last thing.
    So we unpacked our adjectives.]]
  • Adjectives are often used to help us compare things,
    To say how thin, how fat, how short, how tall.
    Girls who are tall can get taller,
    Boys who are small can get smaller,
    Till one is the tallest
    And the other's the smallest of all.
  • We hiked along without care.
    Then we ran into a bear
    He was a hairy bear,
    He was a scary bear.
    We made a hasty retreat from his lair,
    and described him with adjectives.


  • When Reginald was home with flu, uh-huh-huh,
    The doctor knew just what to do-hoo.
    He cured the infection
    With one small injection
    While Reginald uttered some interjections..

    Hey! That smarts!
    Ouch! That hurts!
    Yow! That's not fair givin' a guy a shot down there!
    They're generally set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point,
    Or by a comma when the feeling's not as strong.
  • So when you're happy (Hurray!),
    or sad (Awww!),
    or frightened (EEK!),
    or mad (Rats!),
    or excited (Wow!),
    or glad (HEY!),
    an interjection stops the sentence right!
  • So when you're happy (Hurray!),
    or sad (Awww!),
    or frightened (EEK!),
    or mad (Rats!),
    or excited (Wow!),
    or glad (HEY!),
    an interjection stops the sentence right!

Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here![edit]

  • Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, get your adverbs here.
    Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, got some adverbs here.
    Come on down to Lolly's, get the adverbs here!
    You're going to need
    If you write or read,
    Or even think about it.
  • Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, get your adverbs here.
    Got a lot of lolly, jolly adverbs here.
  • An adverb is a word
    that modifies a verb (sometimes a verb, sometimes)
    it modifies an adjective, or else another adverb

Verb: That's What's Happanin[edit]

  • I get my thing in action (Verb!)
    That's what's happenin'
    I put my heart in action (Verb!)
    (You're what's happenin')

A Noun is a Person, Place, or Thing[edit]

  • Well every person you can know,
    And every place that you can go,
    And anything that you can show,
    You know they're nouns.

    A noun's a special kind of word,
    It's any name you ever heard,
    I find it quite interesting,
    A noun's a person, place, or thing.

Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla[edit]

  • Now, I have a friend named Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla,
    And I could say that Rufus found a kangaroo
    That followed Rufus home
    And now that kangaroo belongs
    To Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla.

    Whew! I could say that, but I don't have to,
    'Cause I got pronouns,
    I can say, "HE found a kangaroo that followed HIM home and now IT is HIS"
  • You see, (uh) HE, HIM, and HIS are pronouns,
    Replacing the noun Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla,
    A very proper noun.
    And IT is a pronoun, replacing the noun, kangaroo! (How common!)
  • If she found a kangaroo I would say SHE found a kangaroo that followed HER home and now it is HERS, but I can't say that... 'cause she found an aardvark.
  • Now I could say that Rafaela Gabriella and Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla and Albert Andreas Armadillo found an aardvark, a kangaroo and a rhinoceros. And now that aardvark and that kangaroo and that rhinoceros belong respectfully to: Rafaela Gabriella Sarsaparilla and Rufus Xavier Sasparilla and Albert Andreas Armadillo. *whew!* Because of pronouns I can say, in this way: WE found THEM and THEY found US and now THEY are OURS and WE're so happy! Thank you Pronouns!

The Tale of Mr. Morton[edit]

  • This is the tale of Mister Morton.
    (Mister Morton is who?)
    He is the subject of our tale.
    And the predicate tells what Mister Morton must do.
  • Mr. Morton walked down the street.
    (Mr. Morton walked.)
    Mr. Morton talked to his cat.
    Mr. Morton talked. ("Hello, cat; you look good.")
    Mr. Morton was lonely.
    Mr. Morton was.
    Mr. Morton... (is the subject of the sentence)
    ...and what the predicate says, he does.
  • Mr. Morton knew just one girl. (Mr. Morton knew).
    Mr. Morton grew flowers for Pearl.
    (Mr. Morton grew.)
    Mr. Morton was very shy.
    Mr. Morton was.
    ...and what the predicate says, he does.

Multiplication Rock[edit]

My Hero, Zero[edit]

  • My hero, Zero, such a funny little hero,
    But till you came along,
    We counted on our fingers and toes.
    Now you're here to stay
    And nobody really knows
    How wonderful you are.
    Why we could never reach a star,
    Without you, Zero, my hero,
    How wonderful you are.
  • What's so wonderful about a zero?
    It's nothing, isn't it?

    Sure, it represents nothing alone.

    But place a zero after 1
    And you've got yourself a 10.
    See how important that is?
    When you run out of digits,
    You can start all over again.
    See how convenient that is?

Elementary, My Dear[edit]

  • Elementary, my dear, two times two is four.
    Elementary, my dear, two times three is six.
    Elementary, my dear, two times four is eight.
    Elementary, my dear, two times five is ten.

    Two times one is two, of course.
    And it must occur to you,
    You get an even number
    Every time you multiply by two.

  • Two times ten is twenty, eleven twice is twenty-two,
    Double twelve that's twenty-four, thirteen twice is twenty-six,
    Fourteen twice is twenty-eight, fifteen twice is thirty, now you're buildin' up on thirty:
    Sixteen twice is thirty-two, elementary.
    Seventeen twice is thirty-four, elementary.
    Eighteen twice is thirty-six, elementary.
    Nineteen twice is thirty-eight, elementary.
    Twenty twice is forty, and it must occur to you,
    You can double any number, all you do is multiply by two...
  • Forty days and forty nights,
    Didn't it rain, children?
    Not a speck of land in sight,
    Didn't it, didn't it rain.
    But Noah built the ark so tight,
    They sailed on, children.
    And when at last the waters receded,
    And the dove brought back the olive tree leaf,
    He landed that ship near Mount Ararat,
    And one of his children grabbed Noah's robe and said
    "Hey Dad, how many animals on this old ark anyway, huh?"

Three is a Magic Number[edit]

  • Three is a magic number,
    Yes it is, it's a magic number.
    Somewhere in the ancient, mystic trinity
    You get three can't you see it's the magic number.
  • The past and the present and the future.
    Faith and Hope and Charity,
    The heart and the brain and the body
    Give you three as a magic number.
  • A man and a woman had a little baby.
    Yes they did, there were three in the family,
    And that's a magic number.

The Four-Legged Zoo[edit]

  • Now Miss Simpson said...
    She teaches school, you know -
    Yeah, she took us there.
    Well, Miss Simpson said -
    If we counted every head on these quadrupeds,
    Then multiplied that number by four,
    We'd know how many feet went through the door,
    If we turned 'em all loose.
    Oh no, don't do that!
    It's really a groovy zoo.
    But, anyway, what Miss Simpson said,
    It was a good chance to work on our fours in our head.
    One, two, three, four!

Ready or not, Here I Come![edit]

  • Multiplying by five is a little like countin' by five. In fact, if you counted along on your fingers as you counted out loud by fives, your fingers would tell you how many fives, you've got.

I Got Six[edit]

  • I got six.
    That's all there is.
    Six times one is six, one times six.

    He got six.
    I put mine with his and we got twelve.
    Six times two is twelve, two times six.

Lucky Seven Sampson[edit]

  • Now you can call me Lucky, 'cause Lucky's my name.
    Singin' and dancin', that's my game.
    I never did a whole day's work in my life,
    Still everything seems to turn out right.
    Like a grasshopper on a summer's day,
    I just love to play,
    And pass the time away,
    'Cause I was born 'neath a lucky star.
    They said I'd go far.
  • Remember Lucky Seven Samson, that's my natural born name.
    If you should ask me again, I'd have to tell you the same.
    You'll wake up tomorrow, you'll be glad that I came
    'Cause you'll be singin one of the songs that I sang.
    So keep a happy outlook and be good to your friend,
    And maybe I'll pass this way again.

Figure Eight[edit]

  • Figure eight as double four,
    Figure four as half of eight.
    If you skate, you would be great
    If you could make a figure eight.
    That's a circle that turns 'round upon itself.

Naughty Number Nine[edit]

  • Number nine will put you on the spot.
    When you're tryin',
    Multiplyin' by nine,
    You might give it everything you've got
    And still be stopped.
    If you don't know some secret way you can check on,
    You'll break your neck on
    Naughty number nine.
  • Now the first thing to keep in mind,
    When you're multiplyin' by nine
    Is that it's one less than ten.
    You see, nine is the same as ten minus one.
    So you could multiply your number by ten,
    And then subtract the number from the result,
    And you'd get the same product
    As if you'd multiplied by nine
    And you knew it.

The Good Eleven[edit]

  • Good, good, good, good, the good eleven, yeah
    It's almost as easy as multiplyin' by one.
    Good, good, good, good eleven. (Mmmm)
    Yes, eleven almost makes multiplication fun.
  • Some people get up at a quarter till seven,
    Other people lie abed till 8:45 or nine.
    But I'm happy just to hang in there till eleven,
    'Cause eleven has always been a friend of mine.

Little Twelvetoes[edit]

  • Now if man had been born with 6 fingers on each hand, he'd also have
    12 toes or so the theory goes. Well, with twelve digits, I mean
    fingers, he probably would have invented two more digits when he
    invented his number system. Then, if he saved the zero for the end,
    he could count and multiply by twelve just as easily as you and I do by ten.

America Rock[edit]

Elbow Room[edit]

  • One thing you will discover
    When you get next to one another
    Is everybody needs some elbow room, elbow room.
  • It's nice when your kinda cozy, but
    Not when your tangled nose to nosey, oh,
    Everybody needs some elbow, needs a little elbow room.
  • That's how it was in the early days of the U.S.A.
    The people kept a comin' to settle though
    The east was the only place there was to go.
  • The president was Thomas Jefferson.
    He made a deal with Napoleon.
    How'd you like to sell a mile or two, (or three or a hundred or a thousand?)
  • Oh, elbow room, elbow room,
    Got to, got to get us some elbow room.
    It's the west or bust,
    In God we trust.
    There's a new land out there...
    Louis and Clark volunteered to go,
    Good bye, good luck, wear your overcoat!
    They hired Sacajawea to be their guide.
    She led them all across the countryside.


  • Ooh, there's gonna be fireworks (Fireworks!)
    On the Fourth of July (red, white, and blue!)
    Red, white, and blue fireworks
    Like diamonds in the sky. (diamonds in the sky!)
    We're gonna shoot the entire works on fireworks
    That really show, oh yeah,
    We declared our liberty two hundred years ago.
  • In 1776 (fireworks!)
    There were fireworks too(red, white, and blue!)
    The original colonists,
    You know their tempers blew (They really blew!)
    Like Thomas Paine once wrote:
    It's only common sense(only common sense)
    That if a government don't give you your basic rights
    You'd better get another government.
  • And though some people tried to fight it,
    Well, a committee was formed to write it:
    Benjamin Franklin, Philip Livingston,
    John Adams, Roger Sherman, Thomas Jefferson,
    They got it done (Oh yes they did!)
    The Declaration, uh-huh-huh,
    The Declaration of Independence (Oh yeah!)
    In seventeen hundred seventy six (Right on!)
    Said we had the right of life and liberty,
    ...And the pursuit of happiness!

Great American Melting Pot [edit]

  • Lovely Lady Liberty
    With her book of recipes
    And the finest one she's got
    Is the great American melting pot.
    The great American melting pot.
  • You simply melt right in,
    It doesn't matter what your skin.
    It doesn't matter where you're from,
    Or your religion, you jump right in
    To the great American melting pot.
    The great American melting pot.

I'm Just a Bill[edit]

  • I'm just a bill.
    Yes, I'm only a bill.
    And I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill.
    Well, it's a long, long journey
    To the capital city.
    It's a long, long wait
    While I'm sitting in committee,
    But I know I'll be a law someday
    At least I hope and pray that I will,
    But today I am still just a bill.

Mother Necessity[edit]

  • Mother Necessity
    With her good intentions,
    Where would this country be
    Without her inventions?
  • Orville, Wilbur, go outside this minute,
    and there continue with your silly playin'.
    Take those plans and take those blueprints!
    Take that funny lookin' thing
    Take that wheel, take that wing!
    I can't hear a thing that Mrs. Johnson's sayin'!
  • When Robert Fulton made the steamboat go,
    When Marconi gave us wireless radio,
    When Henry Ford cranked up his first automo,
    When Samuel Slater showed us how the factories go,
    And all the iron and oil and coal and steel and Yankee don't you know,
    They made this country really grow, grow, grow, grow,
    With Mother Necessity and where would we be
    Without the inventions of your progeny?

No More Kings[edit]

  • We're gonna elect a president! (No more kings)
    He's gonna do what the people want! (No more kings)
    We're gonna run things our way! (No more kings)
    Nobody's gonna tell us what to do!
  • Rockin' and a-rollin', splishin' and a-splashin',
    Over the horizon, what can it be?
    Looks like it's going to be a free country.


  • In 1787 I'm told
    Our founding fathers did agree
    To write a list of principles
    For keepin' people free.
  • The U.S.A. was just startin' out.
    A whole brand-new country.
    And so our people spelled it out
    The things that we should be.
  • In 1781 I'm Told
    Our founding fathers all sat down
    And wrote a list of principles
    That's known the world around.
  • The U.S.A was just startin' out.
    A whole brand-new country.
    And so our people spelled it out
    They wanted a land of liberty.

Shot Heard 'Round the World[edit]

  • Now, the ride of Paul Revere
    Set the nation on its ear,
    And the shot at Lexington heard 'round the world,
    When the British fired in the early dawn
    The War of Independence had begun,
    The die was cast, the rebel flag unfurled.
  • And on to Concord marched the foe
    to seize the arsenal there you know
    Waking folks and searching all around
    'till our militia stopped them in their tracks
    At the old North Bridge we turned them back
    AND chased them back to Boston town
  • And the shot heard round the world
    Was the start of the revolution
    The minutemen were ready, on the move
    take your powder take your gun
    Report to General Washington
    hurry men there's not an hour to lose
  • From the shot heard 'round the world
    To the end of the Revolution
    The continental rabble took the day
    And the father of our country
    Beat the British there at Yorktown
    And brought freedom to you and me and the U.S.A.!

Three Ring Government[edit]

  • Guess I got the idea right here at school.
    Felt like a fool when they called my name,
    Talkin' about the government and how it's arranged,
    Divided in three like a circus.
    Ring one, Executive,
    Two is Legislative, that's Congress.
    Ring three, Judiciary.
    See it's kind of like my circus, circus.

Sufferin' 'til Suffrage[edit]

  • Now you have heard of Women's Rights,
    And how we've tried to reach new heights.
    If we're "all created equal"...
    That's us too!

Science Rock[edit]

The Body Machine[edit]

  • I'm a machine, you're a machine
    Everybody that you know
    You know, they are machines.
    To keep your engine running you need energy
    For your high-powered, revved-up body machine.
    Your high-powered, revved-up body machine.

Do the Circulation[edit]

  • There's a great new craze that's sweeping the nation
    Come on, do the Circulation!
    It starts with your heart, what a great sensation,
    Yeah, come do it, circulate!
    Out through your arteries, in through your veins,
    Your heart pumps your blood then it does it again.
    Come on, everybody, get it on, everybody.
    So come on, everybody, get it on, everybody.


  • When you're in the dark and you want to see,
    You need uh... Electricity, Electricity
    Flip that switch and what do you get?
    You get uh... Electricity, Electricity
    Every room can now be lit
    With just uh... Electricity, Electricity

The Energy Blues[edit]

  • Energy...
    Sometimes I think I'm runnin' out of energy
    Seems like we use an awful lot for
    Heatin' and lightin' and drivin'
    Readin' and writin' and jivin'
  • Energy ... We're looking to try and find some new kinds.
    Nuclear and thermal and solar,
    If we miss we'll get colder and colder.
    Energy ... We've gotta stop usin' you up.

Interplanet Janet[edit]

  • They say our solar system is centered 'round the sun,
    Nine planets, large and small, parading by.
    But somewhere out in space,
    There's another shining face
    That you might see some night up in the sky.
    Interplanet Janet, she's a galaxy girl,
    A solar system Ms. from a future world,
    She travels like a rocket with her comet team
    And there's never been a planet Janet hasn't seen,
    No, there's never been a planet Janet hasn't seen.
  • She's been to the Sun, it's a lot of fun,
    It's a hot-spot, It's a gas.
    Hydrogen and helium in a big, bright, glowing mass.
    It's a star, it's a star! So Janet got an autograph!
  • Mercury was near the Sun so Janet stopped by,
    But the mercury on Mercury was much too high,
    So Janet split for Venus, but on Venus, she found
    She couldn't see a thing for all the clouds around.
    Earth looked exciting, kind of green and inviting,
    So Janet thought she'd give it a go.
    But the creatures on that planet looked so very weird to Janet,
    She didn't even dare to say hello.
  • "It's a bird!"
    "It's a plane!"
    "Why, it must be a UFO!"
    But it was Interplanet Janet. She's a galaxy girl,
    A solar system Ms. from a future world
    She travels like a rocket with her comet team
    And there's never been a planet Janet hasn't seen
    No, there's never been a planet Janet hasn't seen.
  • Mars is red and Jupiter's big
    And Saturn shows off its rings.
    Uranus is built on a funny tilt
    And Neptune is its twin,
    And Pluto, little Pluto, is the farthest planet from the Sun.
  • They say our solar system is not alone in space.
    The Universe has endless mysteries.
    Some future astronaut
    May find out that what he'd thought
    Was a shooting star instead turned out to be... Interplanet Janet, she's a galaxy girl,
    A solar system Ms. from a future world,
    She travels like a rocket with her comet team.
    And there's never been a planet Janet hasn't seen,
    No, there's never been a planet Janet hasn't seen!

Telegraph Line[edit]

  • Hey, there's a telegraph line,
    You got yours and I got mine.
    It's called the nervous system,
    And everybody understands
    Those telegram commands
    And you know that everybody better listen!
  • The central nervous system
    Is the brain and the spine.
    The brain controls the system
    And the spine is the line.
    Telegrams come in
    To tell what's happening to you,
    Then telegrams go out
    To tell your body what to do

Them Not-So-Dry Bones[edit]

  • Minus bones you're just a blob,
    Being framework's their main job.
    All your organs, muscles, too,
    They need your bones to hold them safe and sound inside for you.
    Your heart and lungs are tucked away,
    In there behind your ribs.
    Those bones have been protecting them
    Since we were little kids.

A Victim of Gravity[edit]

  • Helpin' wash the dishes
    And I drop a cup.
    Why does everything fall down
    Instead of up?
    Ridin' up a hill I spill
    And hit the ground.
    Wish I could fall up instead of always falling down.
  • I'm a victim of gravity.
    Everything keeps fallin' down on me.
    No matter where I go
    That forces that I know,
    Just a pullin' me down, down, down, down, down.
    It's all around town now,
    It's like a magnet deep inside the ground.
    When I lift something up,
    I can feel it pulling down.

Money Rock[edit]

The Check's in the Mail[edit]

  • The check's in the mail
    The check is in the mail
    And it ought to be there Tuesday without fail
    If you have got a bill to pay
    Or something you need to buy
    Just write the check and send it off in the mail

Dollars and Sense[edit]

  • Gotta get me some dollars and sense,
    Dollars and sense;
    Them green-back bills with the pictures of the Presidents.

$7.50 Once a Week[edit]

  • Well there goes my allowance.
    I didn't plan ahead.
    I made some bad choices, and I compared prices too late.
    I guess I'll have to find a way to earn some more.
    But that shouldn't be too hard.
    Maybe I can do an extra household chore;
    Like wash the car,
    Or mop the floor,
    Or maybe help clean up the back yard.
  • I still get seven-fifty once a week.
    But now I learned some money management technique.
    And I can save enough
    To buy some real cool stuff.
    And I made my little fortune so to speak,
    On only seven-fifty, once a week.
    That's my allowance.
    Seven-fifty once a week.

Tax Man Max[edit]

  • Here's the song I'm doing, gonna fill in you all about tax.
    Tax is that familiar melody, sinful and true.
    Hum it if you've earned a dollar or two.
    Bucks in billions for the government for whatever they do.
    Anyone who earns a living gives more than a few.
    So schools can be their best, so our roads will have no cracks;
    Someone fix those train tracks!
    I hear you callin' Uncle and I'm payin' my tax.

This For That[edit]

  • I'll give you this for that
    That for this
    We'll make a trade called "barter"
    I'll give you this for that
    That for this
    We'll have it made with barter
  • Today we use cash and spend with ardor
    But that doesn't mean we don't still barter
    When a football team needs a pulling guard
    Or a kid like you is into trading cards
  • Take this for that
    That for this
    Bills and coins are smarter
    But when you pay for that
    Remember this
    It all started out with barter

Tyrannosaurus Debt[edit]

  • There's something huge
    Red, white, and blue
    That's grazing in D.C.
    It's gobbling up the taxes
    That are paid by you and me
    It doesn't seem to notice
    We really can't afford
    The billions that it's costing us
    To pay its room and board
  • It doesn't roam
    But seems content
    To dwell on Capitol Hill
    As long as trucks keep pulling up
    With tons of green-back bills
    We've got to feed the big guy
    We really can't forget
    It has an awesome appetite
    Tyrannosaurus Debt.

Walkin' on the Wall Street[edit]

  • You gotta be cool
    When you're walkin' on Wall Street
    Like goin' to school
    You learn a lot every day
    And this is the rule
    When you're walkin' on Wall Street
    Buy low, sell high
    Take a piece of the pie
    That's the Wall Street way.

Where the Money Goes[edit]

  • We can stop buying groceries,
    But that might be a mistake;
    'Cause eating is a habit I'd be loath to try and break.
  • We can stop paying income tax,
    But they might send me to jail.
    And if we don't pay the mortgage,
    Then they'll take our house;
    Then where would we get our mail?
  • If not for all these bills and taxes,
    Our income would more than suffice.
    I feel like a real big cheese
    Until everybody takes a slice!

External links[edit]

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